"I deal with good people who want to take care of kids," she explained simply.  "I work with families who say, 'I've got an extra bed in my house.'  Caseworkers will contact me and say they need a home.  Well, I know the families.  I've interviewed the families.  I become the matchmaker."
For at least the past 30 years, there is a system in place to provide temporary foster care and shelter to children in Carver County, but none of the families who are licensed in the county to care for children are located in Victoria. 
Said Cathleen Williams, "We are now in a crisis situation in the county.  We have seven children who need a bed and a place to stay for a little while.  Can you help us?"
It's Cathleen's task to find and license foster homes and shelters for children in Carver County.  "I've got the best job in the county," she said.  "Yes, I use the term matchmaker, although the caseworker makes the final decision."
Cathleen is the Licensing Social Worker for Carver County.  Changes in society have created a greater need for foster care.  "People used to have relatives that did this," said Cathleen.  "But today we have mobile families and working moms.  Many families don't have moms or dads today.  Caseworkers will always try to contact relatives first, but sometimes families are not cooperative or are simply not able to help for other reasons."
Why do children need placement outside of their parents' homes?  For a variety of reasons including disability, abandonment, alleged abuse, death of a parent, neglect, behavior problems, inadequate housing.  Sometimes children run away from home.  Sometimes a parent is unable to cope and  simply needs a day or a weekend without the child.  Sometimes a parent abuses drugs.  Children can get lost and hurt for a multitude of reasons.
Do we live in a topsy-turvy world?  In many ways, yes.  Consider this:  There were laws in the United States to protect animals before there were laws to protect children.  It was in 1866 that the American Society for the Preven-tion of Cruelty to Animals was founded in New York.  But it wasn't until 1875 that the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was organized.  Other states have followed suit, including Minnesota.
Said Cathleen, "Strange as it may sound, the program for children was based on cruelty to animals.  Women, children, and slaves were once seen as property, as animals are."
The smiling, effervescent Cathleen Williams adds, "The good news is that we still call it news.  Children in need of foster care is still a novelty.  It's still news.  And I'm still trying to get the news to the public because children still need help."
It is good to learn that Cathleen Williams is not one to throw out a call for help without having first responded to the call herself.  She and husband Mike, who live in Norwood Young America, became foster parents 25 years ago.  In addition to two adopted children of their own, Cathleen and Mike have opened their home to eleven other children ranging in age from 11 months to 19 years.  Length of stay ranged from one day to 22 months.
"I did foster care already as a bride," said Cathleen.  "But today I'm older.  I'm the grandma person.  You can't have too many grand-parents!  My size helps, too.  I'm short and heavy.  Kids will cuddle.  I was meant to mother children."

Born near Chicago, Cathleen spent three years as a Franciscan sister.  Husband Mike spent three years as a religious brother.  "We met through mutual friends and we had common ground," said Cathleen. 
They were married on November 28^th, 1970, and moved to Carver County in February of 1971.  "I fell in love with Mike's family," said Cathleen.  "And Carver County is so beautiful.  There are big hearts here."
By November of 1975, Mike and Cathleen were foster parents.  "My husband is one of 14 children and I'm one of five," said Cathleen.  "We both come from big families, and at the time we only had one child and a great big farmhouse.  So we signed up to be a shelter home and got a two and a half year old boy.  We only had him for a month.  We were a shelter home."
Cathleen said that she and Mike did shelter care more than foster care.  Shelter care is still a type of foster care but it comes without warning.  It comes exactly at the moment there is a need.  There is no time to plan for it.  There are two families that provide shelter homes in Carver County.
Eventually Mike and Cathleen adopted a second daughter.  "I always say that both of my children came by airplane and not by hospital," said the mother of Lucy and Julie.
How did Cathleen come to know about foster care in Carver County?  She explained, "I knew a Mrs. Eder, now deceased, who was having a tough time parenting teenagers as well as a four-year-old.  I had my little Lucy in a buggy at the time -- I didn't have Julie yet -- and I said I could take the four-year-old for her for a while.  That led me to foster care."
Cathleen's attitude in providing care for other people's children was:  "Hey!  I can live with anything for 30 days!"  When she speaks of the people who become licensed to provide care for other people's children, she said, "For most people it's almost like a calling.  It's like, someone has to do this, so why not them?"   Click here to continue.